If the purpose is to have a computer control your boat, you could as well stay at home and run a simulator.
IMO, the whole point of sailing is to be in control of the boat, to make decisions and to act upon them. An autopilot is useful because it makes it possible to sail shorthanded but I don't want to have a computer interface between me and my boat.
If the purpose is to have a computer control your boat, you could as well stay at home and run a simulator.
IMO, the whole point of sailing is to be in control of the boat, to make decisions and to act upon them. An autopilot is useful because it makes it possible to sail shorthanded but I don't want to have a computer interface between me and my boat.
Alain
A good point that. I enjoy day sailing and racing under sail to a large extent because of the challenge.
However, for me, that isn't the "whole point" of sailing. The challenge of sailing can be fun in itself but sailing can also be transportation. I see sailboats out motoring at least as often as I see them sailing even when there is a decent sailing breeze. It seems to me that there could be a niche for a WW type thing when the reality of sailing overcomes the romance of sailing. I appreciate the attraction of a system that combines the ease of motoring with an aesthetic of sailing. Quiet, very long range, green, easy; what's not to like? Well, for me, the cost and the absence of all that tweaking that I love and the associations that I have with sailing. So, not quite my cup of tea. But, it might be an attractive option to a trawler yacht for instance.
If the purpose is to have a computer control your boat, you could as well stay at home and run a simulator.
IMO, the whole point of sailing is to be in control of the boat, to make decisions and to act upon them. An autopilot is useful because it makes it possible to sail shorthanded but I don't want to have a computer interface between me and my boat.
Alain
Understand your sentiments, we all love to reef and shorten sail in 40 kt winds.
You just order a new one by airmail--and have it delivered by an aeroplane
Do I?
Do I really?
The company has gone belly up, who stocks them now?
These arent off the shelf controls.
Quote:
which, BTW, have had fly-by- wire controls for years. Ironic huh!!
While getting serviced and replaced regularly by a maintenance crew and I doubt the fly-by- wire controls were getting buckets of salt water thrown at them at height of 30,000 feet
Anyone visiting San Diego can see one at its Harbor Island endtie facing the San Diego International Airport. I haven't seen it underway, though, in some time. It shares the dock with the upgraded tri from Waterworld. It's an interesting pairing of vessels.
It just gets weirder..... Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego is testing a series of multihulls for the U. S. Navy. This boat is the X-2, built by a company called Harbor Wing. The X-3 is currently being tested in Hawaii, and has hydrofoils that make it capable of 30+ knots (remember the Americas' Cup?). It is said that these will be used as autonomous (unmanned drone) vessels for surveillance and patrol. They will be armed to repel boarders. Don't think about boarding a lone, unresponsive spacey-looking vessel floating quietly in the middle of nowhere. It might ruin your entire day.